Android Team Working On Experimental Linux 3.8 Kernel And Why It’s Good News

Google appears to be working on an experimental Linux 3.8 kernel for Android after creating a new public kernel repository. It’s built from the standard Linux kernel with modifications added by the Android team.

There are several reasons this experimental kernel is good news: Support for the Flash-Friendly-File-System, support for open source NVIDIA Tegra and Samsung Exynos DRM drivers, and a lower memory footprint. Having a smaller memory footprint is by far one of the most anticipated as you really can’t go wrong with additional memory for apps.

As far as what version of Android this 3.8 kernel will debut in, we aren’t quite sure yet. Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean on the Nexus 4 features the 3.4 kernel while version 3.0 and 3.3 are in other Jelly Bean powered devices.